Banuelos to Undergo Tommy John Surgery

Manny Banuelos is headed to the operating room for Tommy John surgery (Photo Credit: Mike Ashmore)

The top pitching prospect in the Yankees’ farm system, Manny Banuelos, will undergo Tommy John surgery performed by Dr. James Andrews on Thursday, states Josh Norris of the Trentonian. The surgery will cause Banuelos to miss the entire 2013 season.

Banuelos, who was 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA in six starts with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before being shut down, had complained of elbow soreness in May. Since then, he has made multiple attempts to rehab the injury and return for winter baseball.

“Obviously (it was) failed rehab,” Cashman said. “Sometimes you have to drill down, drill down until you get to the bottom of things. … If we knew he’d needed Tommy John a year ago, he’d have had it a year ago.”

Cashman remained optimistic that Banuelos would return to an effective level of pitching in 2014.